Early Influences
I am five or six and I am living with my mother's mother, my grandmother.
She has long gray gold Indian hair that falls down her back.
She sits in front of the mirror and brushes her hair.
Her braids are long and she rolls them up into a bun, where they stay with pins.
She speaks only Spanish; she opens the watchtower and shows me the garden.
The utopia where I see the pictures of the lions and the lambs living together in the garden.
She and I travel by train from Pasadena into Los Angeles to see relatives and go to her revivals.
They speak only Spanish at these revivals; there are only tents, tents and more tents.
I can travel about freely I am looking into large tents, it reminds me of a circus,
I know nothing of what is going on, they are speaking in Spanish.
My grandmother is comfortable to be around.
She is a peaceful woman, she is my ideal, and I sit and watch as she brushes her long hair,
she has influenced my life, and she speaks only Spanish.
I spoke only English because that is what I was taught to speak, everyone in this
household spoke only English to me except my grandmother, and she only spoke Spanish.
These are early memories of the garden this is a nice place to be.

Arellanes
Origin Displayed: Spanish

Distinguished surnames, such as Arellanes, evoke images of the ancient homeland of the Spanish people. The original bearer of the name Arellanes, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of Spain. In Spain, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate. Many Spanish local names reflected Arabic words or place-names, because the Muslim Moors from the 8th to 12th centuries conquered Spain. The Arellanes family originally lived in Navarre. The surname Arellanes originally derived from Aurelianus which referred to the farm or estate of Aurelius.

Spelling variations include: Arellano, de Arellano, Arellana, de Arellana, Arellanes, Orellano, de Orellano, Orellana, de Orellana and many more.

First found in Navarre, one of the medieval Christian kingdoms of northern Spain.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Among the early explorers of the New World was Francisco Orellana, who accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro on his expedition to Peru, and was one of the founders of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Orellana then set off to seek spices in 1540-41.